The Audubon Societies 331 



"It was a pleasure and a privilege to walk with him. He knew the country like a 

 fox or a bird, and passed through it as freely by paths of his own. He knew every track 

 in the snow or on the ground, and what creature had taken this path before him. . . . 

 His power of observation seemed to indicate additional senses. He saw as with a micro- 

 scope, heard as with ear-trumpet, and his mind was a photographic register of all he 

 saw and heard. And yet none knew better than he that it is not the fact that imports, 

 but the impression or effect of the fact on your mind. Every fact lay in glory in his 

 mind, a type of the order and beauty of the whole." — Excerpt from 'Biographical Sketch 

 of Thoreau' by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



"July 9. The wind east, wet, disagreeable, and foggy. This is the most wonderful 

 climate in the world; the thermometer 52°, mosquitoes in profusion, plants blooming by 

 millions, and at ever}^ step you tread on flowers such as would be looked on in more 

 temperate climates with pleasure. I only wish I could describe plants as well as I can 

 the habits of birds. I have drawn all day on the Loon, a most difficult bird to imitate." 

 — Excerpt from 'The Life of Audubon,' describing a summer in Labrador. 



"However valuable information may be, it can hardly be regarded as a substitute 

 for knowledge. Information is always at least second-hand, while knowledge is first- 

 hand. ... If the study of nature is conducted so as to cultivate chiefly a sentimental 

 appreciation of natural objects, it is merely more of the same thing. If it is conducted 

 so as to store the memory chiefly with encyclopaedic information, it misses the high 

 level of its educational opportunity. . . . Constantly the teacher is confronted by 

 the question of choice between emphasis on principles and emphasis on details. A guid- 

 ing principle is needed. . . . mainly, the secret of education is the touching of a 'hidden 

 spring,' and we venture that you are more likely to touch it through effective presen- 

 tation of great principles than through details. Once youth ha.s found itself, then the 

 details will take care of themselves." — Excerpts from 'The School Science Series,' Jan. 

 1915- 



"This book tells of some of the interesting things that I have found out with Nature. 

 If you like it, I hope that you will sometime tell me of many things that you may 

 discover for yourselves." — From the Introduction to 'The Story of a Thousand- Year 

 Pine,' by Enos A. ]\Iills. 



THE INNER HARBOR 



The 'inner harbor' at low tide is a world by itself. At first sight, strangers 

 are impressed only by its salt, rank odor; but, let the tide come in, and they 

 marvel at its beauty. The birds and I wait for the tide's ebb and flow with 

 eager constancy. Twice every twenty-four hours this wonderful phenomenon 

 takes place, covering and uncovering a rich feeding-area for the birds and an 

 equally rich area of observation for me. 



One never knows exactly what may happen on the inner harbor at low tide. 

 It is true that the Green Herons and Black-crowned Night Herons come to 

 feed with remarkable regularity; Kingfishers fly in from adjoining lakes, and 

 a small company of Fish Crows, with an ever watchful band of American 

 Crows, pay daily visits to the tasty tidal flats, while the Barn Swallows skim 

 hither and yon, gathering large mouthfuls of food for their nestlings, hidden 

 nearby under an old bath-house and the porch of a seaside laboratory. Now 



